Our preoccupation with money, noted in the last issue, continues with this. The indefatigable Allan Arlett brings us up to date with trends and issues in corporate funding, beginning with the healthy if not always welcome reminder that the corporate donation cannot be a definitive fix for lack of good fund raising elsewhere. James Greenfield points out the six major fields of fund-raising activity and tells us how to know whether our efforts are cost-effective. The subject is much discussed in regulatory circles these days, and the article should help prevent simplistic policies from those who govern us.
Professor Gregory MacLeod helps us broaden the focus with his suggestions for combining business with charity for the benefit of both. Both business and charities face the application of the Goods and Services Tax with trepidation. We have given our tax columnists Mary-Louise Dickson and Larry Murray the quarter off, thanks to our guest columnist Holly MacLachlan-Toonders, who arrives with advice on the GST that will clear our minds if not lift our hearts.
Money affects policy, but not all policy is about money. To keep some kinds of policy separate from politics, Canadians have often resorted to arm’s-length bodies or “buffer agencies” like the Ontario Council on University Affairs. Its operations are described by Colin Graham of our Editorial Board, who serves as a member of OCUA Some good works are directed at others, and some at ourselves. The good works done in the latter categary are the subject of Lori Kociol’s piece on the self-help movement, which presents interesting contrasts to, and overlaps with, the charitable sector. The boundaries between the two areas are not and probably should not be clear.
This collection should provide a good winter’s read on the broader issues. Meanwhile, Bookshelf brings word of two works that will make the day-to-day operations a little easier, a fitting close to Volume VIII.
